Liberia: Man, 44, Makes SOS Call

A 44-year old resident of the Gorzohn Community in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County may shorty die if interventions were not made to safe him. Peter Dehdyugar has a mysterious growth beneath his left ear that is spread to his neck, a situation that is increasingly becoming unbearable for him.

He is appealing to all health related organizations, humanitarian institutions, the Bassa Legislative Caucus, the Liberian Government, the United Nations, as well as philanthropic groups to help him seek medical attention as early as possible.

"I am dying slowly, because I don't have money; this disease may likely carry me to my early grave, if no one helps me at all", Dehdyugar lamented to a local media group in Buchanan. According to the victim, who complains that he barely eats, needs not less than US$650.00 to remove the growth.

He is quoted as saying that after the growth enlarged, he was referred to the Du-Side Hospital in Firestone, Margibi County where he met one Dr. Sherman who told him that he could do the work for US$650.00, an amount, he said, he could not afford considering his poor financial back ground. The victim is said to have returned to Buchanan without undergoing surgical medication.

According to him, his appalling situation started since 2004 when he developed a loop in his left jaw, and visited all of the health centers in Buchanan, including the Liberian Government Hospital, but was referred to the John F. Kennedy (JFK) Hospital for surgical operation because none could actually help to remedy his situation.

Adhering to the advice of the medical personnel in Buchanan, he later underwent surgery performed by a Rwandan medical doctor he only identified as Alex and got discharged two weeks later.

"[Then] in February of 2012, it rematerialized with a little knot behind my left ear, and again, I started to visit the Liberian Government Hospital for medical checkups, but I was always told to go and come back the next day until the growth developed to this size," Dehdyugar further explained.

News of a pro-bono Nigerian medical team in the country excited Dehdyugar, but his joy short-lived when the team left in a disappointing manner for him.

"Recently, I was happy, when I heard that a medical team from Nigeria was in the country, mainly Grand Bassa County, to render free medical services, including surgeries such as removing growth, fiber, and hernia among others. I was the first to register, hoping that the medical team was going to restore my health because they told other people who have similar problem and me that they were going to send for the equipment they supposed to use to perform our operations."

But he and others who were scheduled to undergo free surgeries were shocked by news that the equipment was no longer available: "We walked to the hospital day after day, and the team told us finally that indeed the machine was at the hospital and scheduled us when to operate us. But surprisingly, when we got there for the operation, we saw the team wrapping up to leave; when asked, we were told that the equipment which we were told about wasn't available."

"I hardly eat and sleep at night, and I don't even walk around anymore. I am only waiting for God's intervention," he narrated his frustration.

The victim, Peter Dehdyugar, can be contacted through cell number 0886-950-877.

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